Space and Time

Space and Time

Space and time are aspects of the same reality. One of children's concerns in representation seems to be the co-ordination of these two aspects. In their play, painting and drawing, children make patterned sequences of movement which they realise share characteristics with patterns of movement they see in the outside world. In symbolic and representational play they enact movement passages in terms of both continuous trajectory (see Figure 55) and individual steps or displacements in time and space (see Figure 56). They think about and represent both configurative aspects and dynamic aspects of events. For example, the painting by Ben at age two years (Figure 57) records an aeroplane crashing to the ground, in terms of its continuous trajectory and ...